A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity, noting goals, successes and failures and to swap ideas.

Anyone interested in starting is very welcome but you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits to help achieve your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Richardh – Hope you find some motivation soon
IainRUK – I’m always amazed by your mileage, especially before and after a race (well done on 2nd). Do you ever find motivation hard?
Richard Popp – You sound psyched on the 7a. A lot of stretching – do you find that helps your climbing?
Andy – Good mileage and variety either side of travelling
Grubes – Well done on the steep 6b+
Leon – Good that you spotted your weaknesses at the Castle. I find it pays to be really optimistic with heel hooks. Awesome progression the fingerboard.
Si dH – Don’t worry about Elegy. That kind of routes much more dependent on how you feel than your climbing ability.
samoflak – Great volume of training. Your body is obviously coping with it well. Good to have a couple of CV sessions in there as well.
Eric9Points – Good week. Not surprised you were tired after two long runs.
liz j – go climbing!
Mark Torrance – Good couple of weeks considering you say you’re working lots. I’m sure you’ll recover well in the days off.
mrchewey – Have fun climbing more on grit. You need a very different style on it. Perfect for low grade soloing when the sun is out.
GordyB – Shame about the injury, well done on a good time considering.
Eagle River – Panorama sounds like a cool crag. Well done on the 7a+
Chris05 – Good luck on the OAP and Front Lever. I’ve tried a few times and find it really hard to keep the momentum of training going.
Nomics4sale – Hope you got your 6c. Remember to climb plenty of routes within your grade too. I believe you become a more efficient climber through climbing lots of do-able routes.
crag_hopper_jay – Well done on your HVS/E1s. Your goals are pretty steep, I don’t think I would get that number of E grades in a year!
Tom Hutton – Good healthy week. About your week plan, how about doing swim and core on two days? I’m sure you can handle it ;)
Ian Bell – Good luck in Spain. Liking your trad goals too, Sloth would be a good tick.
Hokkyokusei – Good mileage
Liam M – 4x400 warm up? Good work, that would almost be a session for me!
Biscuit – Well done getting on the harder stuff. I always avoid training the day before going outdoors, but in the long term I think you’ll do better to train anyway. A bit of extra training volume shouldn’t hurt, even if you can’t climb as hard the next day.
Candy – As if you put cleaning in your fitness log :P Your 2 mile time isn’t bad at all, and your previous time of 14min is very good! I’m sure you’ll get there. Keep going on the campus board.
puppythedog – Lots of good things from this week, nice
Kevster – I’m sure there’s something to be said from a full week off
Sankey – Hope your knee recovers. See you again in a few weeks.
Ayuplass – Good luck tomorrow, sounds like a mental race!
Murd – Glad the 4x4s are working for you. I hope to start experimenting with them soon.
Seankenny – It’s always “good” to have had falls on gear. Hopefully this will give you the edge in confidence next time you’re in a similar situation.
Mattrm – go running and climbing!
TerryLines – Glad you’re recovering
Jgustafsson – Intervals take so much out of you, I’ve sacked of a lot of sessions in the past when it didn’t feel right. Don’t beat yourself up.
Eric the Red – cracking, well done!

I did not do much cleaning this week. lol it helps me to remember my lack of customers lol.

Cheers :D hopefully I can improve on my 2 mile time, am only interested in that distance, so just want to get quicker.

M - 1.5 mile run @ 11mins 50 secs
T - Derby, lots of problems, feel so much stronger after coming back from Font, wanted to try some harder problems but left it to late and was pretty tired maybe this Tuesday? Beastmaker 100 - held the 35 deg sloper :D, pull ups on the deep two finger pocket x 2, pull ups on the large flat edge x 3. Good session I suppose :D
W - rest, wanted to do Squash but my knee started to hurt early in the morning
T - EHB, good session, felt strong, did a few problems that alun pointed out, had a go at the yellow problem (starts on the left and finishes top right) managed 2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1 laddering on the campus board x 3 it felt easier than before. Hung the 35deg sloper on the beastmaker.
F - Rest
S - The Works, Managed a fair few 6as (the blacks) and then a 6a yellow, tried a 6b yellow and got to the last move, lack of commitment/ just go for it approach, maybe next time. Campus board - 2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1 laddering x 3, 2-4 right hand x 2, 2-4 left hand x 2 on campus board. hung the 35deg sloper. Pretty happy with this, I have only attempted the campus board properly about 3x before this session.
S - rest

Next aim:
= 2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1 on the campus board
= 2-4-6 on the campus board

I agree Dan. That was the only day i could train that week so i went for it. It's my partner who has 'banned' me from doing it the day before climbing as she wants me in top shape for when i climb with her. Similar dilemma today as i can get out to my training crag this afternoon but may be out tomorrow. Going to go for it though. It can only nake me stronger and i won't tell her ;0)

Not a great week this week due to work. Only 4 days of work but long days up to 14 hrs.

M - work but broken after sun eve climbing anyway and it rained
T - could have climbed but didn't as i knew i was climbing on wed
W - work - climbing during work and a bit after
T - work via ferrata
F - work via ferrata
S - knackered
S - 'fitness' at crag later.

Wed climbing was OK i guess. I forgot my shoes and chalk again ( 2nd time this year ) so had to climb in some we had for clients. Non technical shoes 2 sizes too big with hiking socks on did not make for good climbing. I never realised how much difference a good pair of shoes coud make. Still managed a handful of 5's, 2 x 6a+'s 2x6b+'s and a 6c in them all on-sight. The 6c is a well known one move wonder and i was over gripping and skidding about everywhere. I must be making progress with my head though as i still went for it and got it. Late finish with the clients meant not as much time as we hoped for to get into the 7's so just 1 6b+ and 6c done in our own time.

My 'fitness' later on is essentially going to be climbing around on steep ground for as long as i can. This is not scientific but i know it'll be busy today so i am going to make do with what i can. It'll be climb to a jug, rest while other people climb past or because i need the rest, and then repeat.So getting pumped and then recovering numerous times for an hour or so.

Good weather forecast this week so i want to get out a couple of times climbing and once at the training crag at least. Need to get ready for the visit of Eagle River who is coming to crush some Spanish tufas with his iron grip :0)

STG end of April 2011:
Have an epic trip to font just enjoying myself and not concentrating on grades.
MTG June 2012
RP Mr Bluesky at horseshoe
E1 onsight again
onsight E2/3
Climb hvs/E1 mulitpitch
Climb on the slate
LTG end of 2012
onsight 6c
no major injuries
Do some sea cliff's
Do some DWS

Last weeks goals:
Take it as it comes climb a couple of sessions. Tick one indoors one out

M: Rest
T: Rest
W: Rest
T: Rest
F: Depot. Entered the last round of the comp. The previous two rounds I did with my friend Tom who is a better climber than me. I basically stole his beta in the last rounds and got 144 and 143 respectively. This round climbing on my own I got 156 points
S: Rest and Drinking
S: Holmfirth circuit 2.5 hours. I did my usual warm ups then did most of dyno wall. I also climbed my first 6C been working this problem for about a year. I was getting close with old way. New Beta today and went quickly. Get in!!

This weeks goals:
Take it as it comes climb a couple of sessions.

I am in a real purple patch in my climbing and my psyche is sky high. I climbed my first 7a route less than a month ago got my first 6B flash and now climbed my first 6C. I just hope it does not end!

In reply to Daniel Heath: Cheers Daniel! Yeah I think it's pretty ambitious but I don't think it will harm. Think my goals will need a rethink though, actually want to feel like I've achieved something.

Got the pyramid route session done this week but no fingerboard session. Went to Castle in Quarry and flashed a couple of 6c's which I was psyched about. Nearly flashed a 3rd but came off and got a flapper for my troubles. Off to El Chorro on Tuesday so we'll see how well my training has gone so far, and if I get the five 7a's - I certainly think it's on the cards.

I'll redo all my goals when get back and put some actual dates in for them as they are a little vague at the moment. I'll try and post while I'm out there but if not that will be the reason for my late post next week.

In reply to Daniel Heath:
Thanks Dan. I know what you mean about Elegy, no point worrying about it and I think I made the right call - but I've been wanting to do it for so long, and now I know I'm good enough, I just want to do it!

Short term goals (up to Easter):
- maintain weight at just below 11 stone - BACK ON TRACK - 10 ST 12.5 FIRST THING THIS MORNING
- Do good selection of the Rasp, Elegy, Five Finger Exercise, Billy Whizz, Insanity STILL NONE YET - BUT DONE LOTS OF OTHER GOOD E2S THIS YEAR
- Get a good trad trip in at Easter with a few E2 ticks SEE WEEK'S REPORT BELOW

Medium term (summer):
- Do Darius and a couple of limestone E3s
- Old Man River, That was the River (7bs on the cornice), do a 7b/+ on the embankment
- tick at least one 7b+

Long term goals (autumn):
- Sardine or Tin Off (7b/+s), Cry of Despair (7c)
- do a couple out of Boot Hill, Emerald Crack, Time for Tea, Boulevard, The Asp

M: routes at Alter Rock. Fairly easy session, onsighted a few 6cs but didn't tick anything harder. Had another pop at a tricky 7a+ at the end - need to actually sort my sequence so I tick it.
T: fingerboard session
W: routes at Alter Rock. Bit more done that Monday - had a couple of goes at a new 7a that has gone up that is a massive sandbag, and made better progress than I expected - happy.
T: Rest
F: Froggatt & Curbar. Lots of snow and run-off was a dampener (Insanity was soaked) but managed two E1/2s - Soyuz and Top Secret. The former was hard work and I think is definitely E2 despite the recent downgrade ('to keep in line with other Curbar grades!')
S: Stoney. Really good day - did Om (E1), Armageddon (E2) and Scoop Wall (E2), and seconded St Peter (E1) and Flakes Direct (E2). All the E2s, off Windy Ledge, were absolutely brilliant. Really pleased to have done Scoop Wall - one of the best routes in the Peak.
S: Cancelled a planned 3 day (Sun-Tue) Malham trip due to the weather & conditions. Had a fairly relaxed session at High Tor right wing without a topo/guidebook. Got home, turns out I onsighted a 6a+, 6b+ and 6c+, grabbed one clip on a 6c and took one rest on a 7a. The ones I dogged were very thin crimps on steep slabs though - not my style at all so I'm quite happy. My partner Chris onsighted the lot, he's going really well.

A good week. Some great routes ticked, reasonaly training and got the weight down to target. Although I've not ticked any of my goal trad routes, I think I could hang up the rack for a few months next week and feel like I'd had a really good spring. However since it seems Cheedale is now wet again, I think the early-year trad season is going to go on a bit longer yet!

I wasn't sure whether to post, after what up until today felt like a bit of a missed opportunity of a week, but today has left me feeling lots more positive so I've decided to give it a go. It's been pretty wet at times which has meant a lot of climbing on the stuff that's dry rather than on the stuff I really wanted to do, and since a lot of my psyche was for Boffi with a longer walkin than most other crags in the area that's taken the hit in favour of the safer roadside options at times. Anyway.....

S: First day. About a half dozen easy routes to 6b at the Tarn.M: Boffi. Onsighted Chair de Poule (6c), which I'd been keen to do and was very good. Dogged a potential project I had identified, La ou nimile me lache (7c), worked out all the moves, awesome route, was well psyched for it. T: went shopping and stuff in Montpelier because it was raining.W: It pissed down overnight. Ended up at the Tarn. Psyche low, but mooches around on a few easy things and then onsighted C100Francs (6c+) which I was very pleased with - its a bit spacey on the bolting, and is a techy and also quite pumpy groove which is not my usual sort of thing. Felt like I'd definitely gone for a bit of "a muerte" committing to balancing upwards above the bolts. Pleased! Got on Farniente (7a) later on though and bailed off it - had had enough of being scared I think and "a muerte" turned into "a point-of-not-being-jacked" quite fast.....T: Reverend at the Jonte. 6a+ and 6b, although the latter was a redpoint since the crag layout was confusing and I thought I was bolt to bolting a 7b! Got on a 7a+, made a reasonable stab at an onsight, but got frustrated when I discovered the bolts had been put sometimes just out of reach of the good climbing on the obvious line of holds, so stripped it when I got to the top. F: Boffi again. Spent the day on the project. It's got a technical crux at about 10m, a dyno at about 20 and a big slap about 30, with an ok ish rest between the latter two and a big rest after the last one. Good linking go, got to the dyno move, then to the slap, then to the chains so into 3. Poor/dismal redpoint go though - fell off the technical crux because it was sunny and the sloper had become hopeless, fell off the dyno and inverted, and fell off the slap too! Had a think and decided that in the current changeable weather I can't afford to gamble that much time on it, especially since the last slap is probably the redpoint crux and I can't have that many goes a day climbing up to it! Frustrating since I know with a bit more time it would go - the linking go I had maybe a half dozen more moves to go to an ok rest, which is good progress in the time. S: Rest. It rained from 3am to 6pm S: Dry but windy. Started off on the Bodybuilding boulder in the Jonte but couldn't warm up so sacked it. Went to Cantobre and pulled it out of the bag a bit - Terre a Terre (7b) first redpoint (one dog, a toprope link of the top section, and then boom). Some long reaches, then up through a bulge, then a few long moves through some crimps. Worked a sequence on another 7b too, Qu'importe le canyon pourvu qu'on ai l'ivresse. Lots burlier, could feel the fingers a bit on one move too. Linked the top half on toprope twice in succession with little rest so hopefully good to do when pumped from the lower crux.

So a mixed week, saved by the 6c+ onsight and today's great day at Cantobre.

In reply to Daniel Heath: Thanks Daniel. Bit of a nothing week due to school holidays, but as I've found out I'm finishing work at the end of the month with up to a year's paid garden leave (unless I'm unlucky enough to find a job...) I'm hoping to up the volume in a couple of weeks.

M: Hilly 4m run with the dog
T: Nothing
W: Hilly 5 miler at lunch - legs felt surprisingly ok considering the lack of mileage
T: Zip
F: Ditto
S: 12m bike ride with the kids. Gave the single speed an outing along the canal.
S: 64m bike ride. Went east so not too many hills, but my mate bonked pretty horribly after 40 miles so I ended up towing him 24 miles home. Good for the soul if not the legs. Pretty battered by the time we got home, but a metric century in bang on 4 hours isn't bad.

Roll on May - no work and my new bike - I shall go out with the old boys from the caff in Gargrave on a Tuesday!

In reply to AJM:
Cheers mate, yes going well on trad at the moment although feeling bouldering-weak at the wall - doing everything very statically! Going to have a session at Stoke Awesome Walls tomorrow morning so that might help a bit.
Shame about the rain but good effort on the 7b. Are you back now?

> (In reply to Daniel Heath) Thanks Daniel. Bit of a nothing week due to school holidays, but as I've found out I'm finishing work at the end of the month with up to a year's paid garden leave (unless I'm unlucky enough to find a job...) I'm hoping to up the volume in a couple of weeks.

No - got another week and a half or so. Alex out Thurs, probably moving to Buoux some time round then for some spankage for the last bit - I've assumed that getting anything done there is a result ;) Had been hoping to get some tIcks in off the pyramid and some good onsights so today has been good because it's the first time of the trip I've done anything on the former. Probably helped that the crux was a bit of brit-style boning on crimpy holds - despite being only 20 feet or so away the second was quite different in character, lots more of the hard stuff was on the bulgy bits rather than on the vertical headwall. Will have to come back for the 7c another time though - might try a 7b+ if the weather stabilises but might just try and go for the mileage onsights, will see.

In reply to biscuit:

Cheers Andy. Got tomorrow and hopefully Tuesday clear, by which time I'll maybe need another rest anyway, so feeling a bit more optimistic this evening about getting some decent stuff in.

Perfect perfect perfect fontainebleau. Blue skies every single day I was there with a 4minute shower which we climbed through.

Unfortunately I had really really bad tendonitis on this trip, probably due to the fact that I haven't climbed for more than a day in 6months. And fonts very slappy and squeey nature. Couldn't try anything hard, but this didnt faze me. I hadn't an absolutely amazing time in the forest. Love that place.

S-Drive to font
S-Couldn't commit to HB lady big claques topout/then did magic bus 3rd go and then flashed super classic Egg Chef.
M-Franchard, dossed about on easy stuff nursing my arms.
T-Tried Symbiose and cruised the crux first attempt. Arms gave in and I was in agony so had to sack it off. Did a couple of 7a's but was hurting by this stage.
W-Dosed up on ibuprofen and went to Roche aux sabouts. Graviton, Smash and le flippeur.
T-Had to take a rest day to let arms and fingers recover.

F- Classic font day. Lie in til 11. Arrive at Petit Bois at 12, La baleine (amazing) 3rd go. Pads back in the car, drive to elephant. Tick Le Coeur and le lepreux direct. Pads back in the car. Stop for a few afternoon coffees. Back in the car, drive to Drei Zinnen. Ticked a couple of roofy 7a+'s (flash and 3rd go). Pads back in the car, drive to Roche aux ousieux. Tick 2 classic 7a's and a 7b on the mandarin block and then did the top move on madarin. Unfortunately I went through two tips sliding off the last hold on a 7a I was trying right at the end. Bloody tips = good day.

S-Couple of easy climbs and a few 7a's with heavily taped fingers and dosed up on ibuprofen.
S-Travel back from font

In reply to Daniel Heath:
yup sounds about right two guys and a girl. The girl will have been wearing something purple and one of the guys had a blue hoody on. They sacked it off after that and ended up at owler.
Sadly I chose to watch the town match instead ... what a waste of time

STG (May 2012): Climb at Kilnsey and tick 1x7b+
MTG (end of 2012): Get on a 7c, (Tremelo, New Dawn or something at Kilnsey)

Bit of a non-week really, did a lot of elbow rehab stuff as a precaution for next weeks trip to Spain. Had one indoor session and climbed like a complete fanny for the first hour so spent the rest of the session falling off the wall at increasingly uncomfortable positions to sort my head out. Popping to the wall today as it's pissing it down and going to do something similar because I don't want falling problems to creep back in.

Totally psyched for Spain with the main goals being a one-day ascent of Hasta Luego Luca, a four star twin-tufa 7b, and watching biscuit climb "a muerte" all day. However, the forecast suggests I'm going over during the ONE SODDING WEEK OF RAIN they have in Spain which, if true, will be pretty annoying. Fingers crossed!

The weekend looks iffy but we have had rain last week so hopefully that's it.The forcast changes that quickly i wouldn't worry. We'll deal with it on the day. I have access to a mine of local knowledge and if the weather really craps out there is always Archidona cave.

really struggling with a foot injury at the moment.. starting to taper to Boston... much lower mileage this week. Worried I've a stress fracture in my foot, taking today off for a 1 mile swim and will see how I recover.. I've been struggling with plantar fasciitis for a long time, but think this is more than that now as its a sharper pain..

In reply to AJM: Good to hear you made the most of the rain! I can empathize, I was around the Seynes are during the rainy times. Luckily the stuff was steep enough to stay dry. I was disappointed not to make it to the Tarn but it sounds like the weather was even worse there?

In reply to Daniel Heath: Thanks for taking over Dan, you missed me but I'll let you off cos I was on holiday.

So the week in France was basically making the most of the bad weather (as Andy will know), but I still got some excellent routes done, pushed myself and did at least two routes a day.

Sun - a good but frustrating day, warmed up by accident on a 6c+ but scraped up it clean. Then I got on a 7b+ which one of the locals advised me to do, and after listening to a flurry of beta in french, I made good progress moving easily past the cruxy start, only to fall after the last bolt. But my day improved when I onsighted two 7a+'s later.
Mon - Arrived at the crag and saw, to my dismay, a wall of 15m grey limestone slabs, however round the corner there was a tiny but very steep wall. Managed to onsight an 8m 7b - probably like a V5 followed by V4 separated by a bolt - then tried a line to the left which wasn't in the guide, it felt harder, maybe 7b+/c?
Tue - The first rainy day warmed up on a 6a then onsighted a burly 7a just before it rained.
Wed - The second rainy day, psyche levels low... went to a cave called Les Branches. Arrived to find some tufas as tall as me and twice as wide, meaning it was possible to climb a horizontal roof at 6b+. Then got on something a bit harder, dogged up a 7c+, really fun route with loads of heel hooks and knee bars, and managed to get to the top after about five rests, doing all the moves.
Thurs - Less rain! First day at Seynes, I was amazed by the quality - so many tufas! Warmed up on 6b+, then slipped off a very polished 7a which involved some strenuous tufa bridging. Looking for something a bit more face-y, I chose a 7b+ which started up a massive tufa system before thinning out to a single, narrow tufa, which I managed to onsight. I'm sure it was my hardest to date, I've never been so pumped.
Fri - back at Seynes. Warmed up on a 7a I knew to be soft, which was fine. I then spent the day the falling off high up on various 7b/+ onsights, getting very tired.
Sat - Russan - too hot to climb! Massive change from a few days ago, but I'm not good in heat and decided to have the day off.
Sun - spent the day kayaking, very tiring and a strong wind didn't help but I'm counting it as training!

So I've still got another week of holiday, but I've also got a lot of revision to do. Hopefully get out on some peak lime this week, I fancy projecting something hard!

Weight now 84.7kg though think this is slightly low - dehydration or undereating perhaps? And Fat % - still 24.4% Odd would have expected a small decrease but these things are best taken over months rather than single weeks.

My real priority this week is to get back on track

It will be a week of being out a fair bit so 'training' may be hard but hope to manage something like this

I think the forecasts were maybe a little worse for round here, but not enough of a difference to inspire us to up camp and move in the hope of better things. Was Seynes seepage free then? I was there Feb/Mar a few years back (doing the guide research trips) and the tufas got pretty damp after a day or two of rain - assume that wasn't such an issue for you?

I don't know - we are due to shift to Buoux this weekend or the back end of this week sometime, so there's only a few days left, and after today's performance (1 7a onsight and 1 second go, plus some good mileage on easier stuff too) I'm quite psyched to try and ratchet up a few more good onsights and maybe finish the other 7b at Cantobre if we end up back there on a rainy day. So probably not, but the forecasts are so changeable and so messed up its hard to be sure what I'll spend the time doing!

Ok week. Ticked the 6c+ I had looked at on the last few visits, took 2 attempts and was chuffed that I had enough gas in the tank to make ago of it 2nd time back to back, was on my to do list before I went away.

Off to Costa Blanca on the 17th, really looking forward to it, it will be my first time climbing abroad. Haven’t really set any goals other to enjoy every minute and not get too hung up grades. That said I would like to close the wide chasm between my indoor and outdoor grades, it’s no surprise considering that you can count my sports climbing days on real rock comfortably on 2 hands compared to hundreds of visits to wall and I can’t say I have ever tried to redpoint anything outdoors. Think my best outdoor is 1 6a+ so I’ll be certainly hoping to surpass that. Need to get out on the real stuff much more for general confidence and improve my ability to read rock rather than following the coloured plastic blobs.

M: Wall, ticked the 6c+ and cleaned the easier new routes on comp wall.
T: Home Bouldering, 4x4, tough, feeling yesterday’s efforts.
W: Rest
T: Wall, good session, cleaned the 6b+ I had looked at towards the end a session the other week comfortably, cleaned 6c on comp wall that I did back in Jan, took a few sessions to get it clean back then and not been back on it since, seemed easy today with some to spare.
F: Rest
S: Home Bouldering, 4x4, not to bad. + core.
S: Home Bouldering, 4x4, harder today. + core.

Feel the run-up to going away has gone well, planning a steady week for one coming up with maybe 1 or 2 4x4’s and maybe a fingerboard session so I can start the following week feeling fresh.

STG: Regular on sites of F6b’s (tick) and F6c’s
MTG: F7a indoor…get out side more
LTG: E # ‘s

Poor week but events out of my control rather than a lack of motivation. Still a bit ill but it doesn't seem to be affecting training.

First time bouldering @ New Mills on Saturday. Its just round the corner from me so I might try to build it into my training as the days get longer. Tried the 7A+ traverse of the bionics wall, managed most the moves but the moves crossing Bionics Right elude me. Anyone done it that can give me beta?

Looking forward to getting a full day outside (next sat maybe). Normally I'd be keen on trad but this year I think the low hanging fruit is on sport so I'm really motivated to do as much sport as possible. Also keen on bouldering just because it means I don't have to faff about lining up a partner.

Weather looked poor for the Pass, so went to pembroke. 3 good days over the weekend.

Amongst other routes: 5x 3 star E1's. Felt steady on all of them. Last day Pigs on Wings (HVS) was beyond exciting, especially with the crack wet all the way and light failing.
All good in the end. greta to get back on the welsh rock again.

m - catacomb, fell trying to match the last move on the beige 'v8', worked red v8 a bit (too hard) and grey v7 (yep.. too hard). Laps of long blue into long purple then tried the yellow (hardest bit) at the end, couldn't touch it. Decided to flip the order a bit now so it goes 'Yellow short v4 - long blue v4 then long purple v3, tried this at the end and was absolutely pooped on the v3, but i had just done a bunch of laps previously. I think I'm going to keep at this circuit now until i can do the purple v3 into the yellow (again) at the end.

t - Did v4, v3, v4 then v4, v4, v3 long links. Had a pop on v8, fell last hold, again. Was showing mate middle yellow beta and fell, as I fell i kinda latched the hold with a single finger and tried to hold on, effectively shock loading all my body weight onto one finger (god knows why i did that) felt a pull in my arm. Seems like a light tear, the pain is in the forearm, not good. I've been coping perfectly fine with the volume otherwise - this just seems to be rather unlucky. Im conscious that my body is probably under stress a bit now and maybe its paranoia, maybe not, but I'm gone give myself a week off to make sure this gets fixed.

w - rest

t - rest

f- rest ( mild pain still present in the arm)

s - rest

s - rest

s- rest (killing me not to climb now, but I'm feeling the benefits in the arm, just worried about missing all this potential endurance training)

In reply to Daniel Heath: Cheers Daniel, does stretching help my climbing? Hand on heart I dont know, although I am making a concerted effort to improve my climbing I am not sure to what degree this constitutes "training".
My major weakeness is my "head" or "motivation" not physical. I am not strong by any stretch of the imagination, I am 50, have just had a fairly major op and have not been fit for years in some ways. I am doing some focussed work targetting burl and now finger strengh but I do need to play to my strenghs as much as target my weaknesses. On Sunday at Brean a young bloke, tall, lanky, walked up with hs girlfreind and promptly on-sight flashed a hard 7b+. Massive flags, drop knees, no spectacular deadpoints or other shows of stregth. If I walk up to a route a try and climb it front on by power I get spanked so I need to be as comfortable as poss in twisting my body, relaxing, breathing and moving smoothy. I need to learn or remember to climb more like a women and less like my 20 something freinds who are strong. So stretching-yoga bothhelps me mentally and physically both in my life and in my climbng, it is also something I can acheive everyday.

Another great week for me, started of worrying about my skin which was very sore and ended up getting my 6c April target first go (not flash)I just kept pulling rather than slumping which is what I mean by my motivation above. Only back climbing a month after six month lay off and back to personal best.

M-Yoga, dumbells, run.
T-Yoga, swim half mile,deadhangs and repeaters on board.
W-Unfocussed but positive session on boards at TCA.
T-Yoga, run, deadhangs and repeaters on board.
F-Yoga, walk about nine miles, v, nice.
S-Yoga, deadhangs and repeaters on board.
Su-Brean, warmed up, got Coral Sea first go, got on chepito for first time, felt impossible but few hours later getting all the moves, did not try a redpont but still a positive session.

Not had a chance to post for the past few weeks - work been manic. Nothing amazing to report on - odd climbing session, and trying to get a few longer runs in as build up for Easter weekend, but tended to fail a bit on both accounts!

Goals:

Short term (next couple of months) - try and get a decent redpoint tick (7a or above)- DONE - get running fit for orienteering fun over Easter weeeknd - see this week (below)

Medium term (over summer) - work has the potential to be hectic, trips are out and weekends may be too So, my main goal is to try and maintain fitness through wall trips, hopefully fit in some outdoor trad and psyched for the autumn!

Week 263:

M - Ran home from work, about 7 miles I reckon, though not had a chance to measure it yet. Felt ok, until hit the last mile or so, but legs aching a fair bit afterwards
T/W/T - busy at work and too exhausted to climb or run
F - Did a few easy trad routes at shorn cliffe - a rather grotty v diff, nice HS and then top roped the E3 to the right (I had to go up to try and rescue a stuck nut anyway so figured I might try something harder) - which was very nice.
S - Wandered round Bath
S - Did a bit of cycling round Reading to cheer on the boy who was the half marathon

Week 264:

M - Planned to run home, but got stuck at work til late
T - Managed to leave early and ran home from work, ~7 miles (possibly a bit more) - tactical error in planning meant I had a pretty heavy pack to carry so felt very hard work
W - Nowt
T - Packing for weekend
F - Rest, train all the way up to bonny Scotland
S - Day 1 of orienteering - realised how much running fitness I have lost,
particularly for terrain running. Haven't orienteered on an area that technical for about 8 years, so took me a while to get into the navigation, and was completely knackered when finished from the toughest terrain Scotland has to offer! Finished off with a Ceilidh in the evening - probably not ideal preparation for running the next day?!
S - Day 2 of orienteering - feeling tired from previous day and course was pretty hilly, though ran where I could. Would have been an ok run if it hadn't been for a major major gaff on one control

In terms of goals, managed to achieve my short term climbing goal by getting Skullduggery done a month or so ago, which was pleased with. Really could have done with doing more orienteering in the run up to Easter to get some more nav practice and running fitness in, which unfortunately showed - but was fun to be out doing it again!

Work really busy still, so goals over the summer still to try and maintain both climbing and running fitness and get outside when I can. Having not been to the wall for a few weeks now, suspect I need to focus some effort on building that back up in the next couple of weeks.

Glad to hear it and I know long-term forecasts are generally nonsense but I have a tendancy to bring the rain with me. Had two holidays in Costa Blanca, one in Majorca and one in Sardinia where it has rained more days than not so I'm usually a bit pessimistic!

In reply to Daniel Heath: Cheers - it's a sort of 'the shorter the event, the longer the warm up' type thing!

3x cycle commute

Mon: Easy 10k club run
Tue: Short hill session
Wed-Thu: Rest
Fri: Salford 10k - dnf'd due to hideously painful guts at about 4km (basically stormed off in strop at end of first lap).
Sat: Roundhay Park Run, insides still not playing.
Sun: Guiseley Gallop offroad 10k, 45ish mins, running really well apart from having to dive for bushes at 8k.

Awful week. My legs felt a little tired early in the week, so I rested them up before Salford. I started off possibly a little fast, but not so much that I would blow up completely, but at 4k my guts imploded and by the time I reached the end of the first of two laps I'd had enough and just
walked off frustrated.

Took the only positive of the week from GG, where I was running really well and ahead of people who until recently have comfortably beat me.

It just makes it more frustrating though, because I know I have the pace and probably the endurance to dip under 40mins for 10k for the first time, but it's also a complete lottery whether my digestive tract will hold up well enough to allow the other parts to do their best. I'm trying to ascertain any causes, but that is proving tricky. Though I have improved fairly rapidly since January, so the training feels like it's working and I will stick with a similar program for a while yet, to see what I can get from it.

I'll try a fast 10k again next weekend at Wakefield. Hopefully I shouldn't have a complete collapse of my insides this time.

Friday: Malham - first visit of season, couple of trips up Rose Coronary felt fine and a lap of Puddlejumper. One lame trip up Against the Grain, really cold hands and no memory didn't help. just got colder and colder as day went on so one more clean TR of Against the Grain and that was that for me. not too disheartened given the conditions.

Didn't manage to get out for rest of weekend due to family commitments, partner's birthday and trip to my mum's ...

In reply to Liam M: Have you tried food intolerances? Have I said this before? I had similar years ago. Took out dairy and no issues since. There must be something wrong. I'd get it checked out medically..

In reply to IainRUK: I've had blood tests that have eliminated the more obvious intolerances, though may try to get more thorough tests if it doesn't calm down. I keep thinking I've identified the right food for the days leading upto target races, only for something to sporadically act up.

I avoid heated/melted fats in the day or so before as that seems to make it worse. Strangely uncooked mild cheese seems to calm it down though.

In reply to AJM:
Went to Cantobre and pulled it out of the bag a bit - Terre a Terre (7b) first redpoint (one dog, a toprope link of the top section, and then boom). Some long reaches, then up through a bulge, then a few long moves through some crimps.

Good work. Spat me off big time - didn't even try to redpoint it. Good crag if you can get on with pockets on bulging limestone.

Cheers Simon. Hopefully back there today, going to try and get the second one too. Ace crag, although I suspect anything that goes through the bigger bulges (Turbulence, Gazoline etc) would make pretty short work of me too!

Half considering a winter rematch long weekend - should be good if it's sunny, and there's lots to do from mid 7s to mid 8s.....

In reply to Daniel Heath: Cheers Daniel - hope the chocolate eggs have ran out now!

Work got in the way of everything as I tried to tie a few jobs up before going away for easter. Did some core exercises, burpees etc but that was it. Late finishes and early starts.

Fri - Arrived late arvo and walked into Ffynnon Lloer, surprised at the amount of snow to be honest. Set up camp by the water, the Laser Comp was totally flattened a few times by strong gusts but otherwise no dramas.
Sat - Everything melting, wandered up to Pen yr Ole Wen and onto Carnedd Dafydd. Nice to have Simon and his dog for company this weekend but not going to be able to push the speed above a slow walk, Good to be in Wales again however. Everywhere saturated so camped on the forestry site near Beddgellert.
Sunday - Had a wander up Cnicht for the first time, no views and crap weather but always wanted to head up there. Then Parked up at Cadair Idris and walked in via the base of Cyfrwy Arete. Looks a cracking route and on the to do list. Slogged up the scree on the Foxes path. Spent the night in the shelter. Wet down, very wet, as in woke up laid in two inches of water, is surprisingly cosy still. Did burppees and pull up, plus some planks too.

Liam - cut out dairy myself this year and noticed a huge difference with my guts. I can actually eat a little before training and keep it down, something I've never been able to do. An added benefit so far does seem to be that the pollen doesn't seem to be hitting me as hard as usual. We'll see.

Sport - Englands Dreaming (7a+), Victims of Fashion (7a+), Pump Hitler (7a+), Shakin like a leaf (7a). Tried all of these in the past so would be good to RP them.
Trad - Sloth (HVS), Both of the unconquerables (HVS & E1), Vector (E2).

STG (end of March). Continue training and don't get injured. Some form of CV fitness for at least 30 mins x2 week. Any climbing done considered as a bonus.
MTG - (end of July) - at least 2 of the trad routes and at least 2 of the sport routes. Do a trad road trip over jubilee bank holidays, possibly cornwall.
LTG - end of year - all of the goal routes. Also climb an (any) E3 and RP (any - probably in Portland or on holiday)7b+.

VSTG - try and RP 7a either in spain or the weekend after - done in Spain

Hi all and Daniel thanks for stepping in.

For me Spain Fri - Tues although due to flight times only climbing Sat - Mon.

Sat - wet and climbed at a nails overhanging wall. Dogged a few harder routes.
Sun - Started at the nails wall again. Os 6a+, lead with a few falls very nice 6b+. Afternoon changed venue. OS 2 nice 6a. OS nice long (32m) 7a. Happy with this, only 3rd 7a at all and first proper onsight, other one was very soft.
Mon - OS 4x6a / 6a+. Very hot and friends insisted on a S facing crag with no shade. Ended up overheating and hiding in the cave (way too hard to climb it).

Overall good trip, the stamina training obviously paid off a bit with the 7a. Off somewhere this weekend (weather permitting so will aim for more).

Cheers, race results in next weeks post...!
Mon - run with 20kg coal
Tues - sack run again but did longer routesof just over a mile in 14 minutes
Wed - snow stopped any play!
Thurs - had a day off and appointments so decided to walk between then with camera in snow, did about 7 miles
Fri - nowt
Sat -45 min boulder working v3s, more successful on new problems nearly got 3 of them . Coal sack run 9 min
Sun - trip to Martin Mere and a rest

In reply to Daniel Heath: Oops, forgot to post last week (again). Last week did a mini bouldering comp at the wall - nothing serious but what a workout - couldn't lift arms above shoulder level for next 2 days. I'm not normally into bouldering but this made me realise how much good it would do me if I could commit to it regulalrly,but find it sooo boring on my own (plus I'm too crap and give up too easily). Had a route night indoors and got on some new routes - no idea how hard they were as not graded yet but I felt quite good on them so they're probably easy

Good training week overall. First week in a long while without a rest day (and there's really no reason why you'd need one if you alternate climbing and running). That said, maybe I did have some issues with the recovery because most of the climbing sessions were not very high quality...

Mon: Run home from work, just short of 10k at 47:30. Did not feel great, but ok.
Tue: Boulder. Very good session. New V6, V7 and V8 all in a session (though the last one is probably more like V6).
Wed: Easy 5.7k run to wall in 27:30. More working of my V8 nemesis, some campus and pull-ups.
Thu: 10k run home. Felt well tired.
Fri: Quick boulder session
Sat: Running intervals. 5.5 x 1km between 3:40 (downhill) and 4:02. Fail on the 4th one (hence the .5)
Sun: Boulder session. No great strides.

Happy with the volume, especially with the running. Not feeling much faster or fitter but at this point I'll just trust that if I put in the work then eventually the results will follow.